The Dueling Number
by Payton Love
Summary: This takes 20 years after the black cat saved the world. It's all about Eve's daughter Nikki, who knows nothing about her mother, and is with Chronos. But soon goes to duel academy. ocxoc Asterxoc Syrusxoc Jadenxoc to be edited
1. The Exams

My name is Nikki, I'm not your everyday girl. You see, I have these powers, like I can see into the future or move things with my mind. Not only that but I'm a trainee, at this secret organiztion called Chronos. My mentor is Jenos, he's a big womanizer, but a good teacher. The other trainees really don't like me because I 'slack' off. But I'm just better then they are and finish before they do.

I walked into Shephira's office like room, it looked more like a dojo if you asked me. "Nikki, you came." she said noticing me. "Why wouldn't I you're the leader other then the elders." I said. "You've only been here for two monthes, and are ready to become a number. But you'll be a number not like any other trainee." she said. "Okay." I said. "You're are even stronger then me, when you use your temper. So you're going to be a number higher then me, you're going to be the number zero." she said.

I looked at her. "For once, a mentor will be giving thier student their weapon." she said. "Wait, am I the first for this?' I asked. "Yes. The edlers said that you should be the start of a new change. "you'll be know as number zero for then on." she said. I nodded. "dismissed." she said. I got up and walked out. For once I went on a walk around town without knowing that trainning was over.

I walked by were the boys were. They were the other trainees other then me the only girl. "Oh look it's Nikki." the one named Josh said. "Back off, I'm going to talk to her. the learder of the boys Jim said. Then there as also Tim and Martin. Four boys and then theres me, five trainees totale. They wore the trainee boy uniform whicht was a pair of black pants with a black shirt and red tie.

I wore a red and black skirt with the same shirt and tie. "So what did Shephira want?' he asked. "Lets see, you're stuck trainning and I'm going to be a number." I said. I was being sour to him like always. "Don't be like that." he said as if he was hitting on me. I walked away but I flet someone grabe my skirt. "Oh, you're going to get it now, Jim." Tim said. I turned and looked at him, our two inche different wasn't anything to me.

I punched him outside the head and kicked him in the nuts. Then I stomped off. Some guy with brown spicky hiar walked by me, and stoped beside me. "You should really take it easy on him." he said. I looked at him. I noticed his tatto number 13. "You're Black cat." I said. "And you're a trainee of Chronos right?' he asked. "By atfernoon tomorrow I won't be I'll be a number. Zero, because I'm stronger then Shephira." I said.

He looked at me. "How long have you been trainning for?' he asked. "Two monthes." I said. "I'm alittle more different then those boys." "I see, but why Chronos?' he asked. "Why not?' I asked. "I'm a bounty hunter now and I'm happy." he said. "They came to me not the other way around." I said. "It's always that way, just don't let the power take your heart." he said. Then he walked away. "I never let power take over me." I said.

I walked until the sun started to set. I went home to my apartment. I lived by myslef for as long as I could remember. I walked into my bathrooma dn took an nice long shower. Then I went to bed hoping for tomorrow to come. But my dream is what woke me early in the moring. I only rmembered a woman around the age of thirty yellling at a phone. She was scared. "TRAIN, SAVE MY BABY!'" rang in my ears.

I got ready by putting on a black dress with a sliver cross on it. I knew I won't have been able to go back to sleep after that dream. I locked my door and walked out of the building. I just walked letting my legs carrry me some were. Next thing I know I don't know what part of town I was in. I went to turn around only to run into some old man. "Who are oyu?" I asked. "A Bounty hunter what does it look like?' he asked.

I noticed he had an eye patch. "I'm sorry, bye." I said running off. I finally got to Chronos just in time. "There you are." Jenos said walking up to me. "Hi." I said. "Come on lets make you a number." he said. The thing didn't take long I really only had to vow to protect Chronos even if it ment my life. Then he handed me a double bladed scythe. "You named it whatever you want to." he said. "It's name will be reaper, but when put on parer the first r is backwards." I said.

"Get know the weapon." he said. I noded, and then everyone claped. Then I noticed jenos was rubbing his arm. "did you hurt yourself?' I asked. 'Carrying Reaper yeah." he said. "It can't be that heavey." I said holding it with one hand. Reaper did feel light to me. Jim walked over to me. "Give me it, so I can see." he said. "No, you're still a trainee." I said. He grabed it for my hands and fell over. "That's heavy." he said.

I grabed reaper. "well, I'm going to train to get to know what this can do." I said. I walked down to thet rainning room. I noticed a botten on reaper. I pushed it adn the top blade fell to the ground, anf dented the floor. "It's that heavy?" I asked. I picked up the other half to see a chain holding the two together. I grabed the chain and started to spin the one half and held on to the other hlaf. I threw the one that was spinning and it hit a traget.

I was liking the fact reaper was something only I could work with. But then I heard s crash from the front. I put reaper back into one, and ran to see. I saw the one old man from this moring, and black cat. "Heartnet, why is it that you are here?" Shephira asked. "I'm here to pick someone up." he said. "Who would that be?" Jenos asked. "A girl who has long brown hair." he said.

"What do you want with me?" I asked. "You're mom's been looking for you since you were taken from her.' he said. "I never had a mother." I said. "may be you don't know who she is because chronos took you from her." Black cat said. "They are my family don't say that." I yelled. "No you're family is with us and Eve." the old man yelled. "Who's Eve?' I asked. "Your mother." Black cat said. "Jim, get nikki out of here, and your now a number. Your number 14, and you must protect Nikki from these two." Shephira said.

"Good, come on lets get out of here." Jim said wrapping his arm around my shoulders to pull me with him. "wait!" I said pulling away from jim. "Prove you know something about me." The black cat looked lost. "You have Eve's eyes." He said. "Any one can have my colored eyes." I said. "You can see into the future and move things with your mind, and you have nanomachiens in your body. You make nanomaichens with in your body." the old man said. "HOw did you know that?' I asked.

"Because your mother, Eve, told us." he said. "JIm, get me out of here." I said. Jim lead me to the secret exit, and we got away. But Jim stoped. "I'm not going to let you take her.' Jim said. Him being taller I couldn't see Jim turned, and put his arms around me. "Prve." I whispered. "move out of the way, and you won't be hurt." I heard the black cat say. I heard him pulling the trigger. "No, don't hurt him." I cried turning Jim around so my back took the shoot.

"Nikki?" he asked. We both fell to the ground. "i'm alright. I truned my back into steel." I said. The bullet fell to the ground. "Your stronger then your mother." Black cat said. "How about you tell me your real name." I said. "Call me Train." he said. I picked up reaper a bit better. "How about a fight.' I said. He raised his gun again. "I really dobn't want to but since you asked." he said.

He shoot at me but I blocked some of his shoots with Reaper. But I had to make a shield so none would hit Jim. "Why are you protecting the bad guy?' he asked. "Jim's no bad guy." I said. "How?' he asked. "Because he helps me, with things that you would never understand." I said .But then I cold feel a blade in front of my nose, but couldn't see it.

I looked to see a man he looked the same age as black cat, with long silver hair. "How about we this a free for all?" he asked. "I don't think so." I said hitting the button on Reaper. I began to spin the blade, but something stoped me halfway through. I picked up Reaper, and just threw the blade into the air. "Jim, get down." I said. Jim ducked behind a wall. I held on tight to the half of Reaper in my hand. I did a quick turn, and spun myself around along with Reaper.

Readper came close to hitting the new man. I looked at Train to see him ducking. I slowed down enough to make he jump back up. "Creed, this is my fight stay out of it." Train yelled. "You both are." I said. I swund reaper over to Creed, but he wraped it around something. "Wha?" I asked. "It's my chi balde." he said. I tried to pull reaper back over to me, but couldn't.

"Now it's time for you to meet my chi blade level two." he said. Then I saw the blade show itself and it had a face on it. I knew to be scared. The sowrd came at me. I couldn't move. Just when the blade was about ot hit me I closed my eyes, but I didn't get hit. But I flet blood splatt on my face. I opened my eyes to see Jim. "Jim." I said. He started to fall over but I cought him. "Nikki, are you alright?" he asked. I layed him down, and Train held off Creed. "No, you big dummy, you just got your self hurt." I said.

Jim placed his hand on my face and whipped away tears, and blood. "You never told me your ture feeling, when I told you I loved you, remember?' he asked. "I remember, and right now you can't leave me." I said. "I'm trying not too." he said. "You won't close your eyes right?" I asked. "Only if you want to." he said. I only hated Jim because he told me he loved me, adn I didn't know what love was, but I fianlly do. I held Jim close, but then put him down. "Don't move, I'm going to finsih this." I said. He only nodded.

I picked up Reaper again. I pulled it apart, adn threw one half at Creed. "You're going to pay for that." I said. Creed looked at me. "How strong are you little girl?" he asked. "A lot stronger then I look." I said. I begun to swing reaper. But i stoped and put back to together, and jumped as high I could. Then I threw reaper like it was a bomarang. And it hit Creed. He held his left shoulder with his open hand.

Reaper came back to me. "You little." Creed started. "Crred, she'll kill you if you don't get out of here." Jim said. I turned and dropped reaper droped by Jim. I heard Crred flee but train walked up to me. "I'm fine Nikki, that sword just took a bite out of my shoulder." Jim said. I started to cry so hard, because it felt like I was going to loss him. Soon the world went black.

I woke up to a motor running. I looked at the window I was leaned on too see a forest moving by. "I see your awake." I heard Train say. I looked to see him in the front seat of the car we were in. "Don't tell her anything untill we stop." I heard someone say. I looked at the driver's side to see that one old man. "Name's Sven." he said tipping his hat. I looked beside me to see the seat emtey. "Jim?" I said. "He's not with us, he lost a lot of blood. We couldn't do anything." Train said with sadness in his voice.

I felt tears stream down my face. "How do you feel about going to a school to learn about the world?" Sven asked. "I don't want to go to just any school." I said. "What kind of school?" Train asked. "There's this cool game I saw once when I was out walking the streets. It's called duel monsters. I want to start my own deck, and enter the school." I said. "That sounds like a stragne school." Sven said. "I can learn it, please. You tried to save me from something its the least you can do." I said.

Sven nodded his head. "So Jim really died?" I asked. Both were quite. "I see." I said. Soon Sven stopped at a game shop. we climbed out of the car. "How will we pay for the cards?' train asked. "I have money." I said. We walked in. The man at the counter looked happy to see us. "How may I help you?' he asked. "We need to find some duel monster cards." I said. "Oh right up here." he said.

I looked at all of his cards. "Wow." I said. "So you're into duel monsters?' he asked. "Yeah, and I like to fight a lot too." I said. "I see, then maybe a fighting deck will do you." he said. Then I saw a deck and on top was a grim reaper. "What's that deck?' I asked. "Oh that's a Grim Reaper deck." he said. I noticed that the Grim reaper on the card was standing next to the case. "_Pick us, we're might for you._" I heard it say. "I want that one." I said. "Are you sure. People who used that deck ended up in the mental hospital." he said. "Yes, I want it.' I said holding out at least $200. "Okay, here.' he said handing it to me. "Thank you." I said.

"Oh if you want to go to Duel Academy, here's the exam to enter.' he said handing me a paper. I read it. "Alright. Let's go." I said. "But you just started today.' Sven said. "Really then here read this book." the counter man said. I picked up a small book. "It has everything you need to know." he said. I opened the book, and started to read it. "I wonder if she's anything like her mother?" Train asked. Then I put the book down. "Lets go." I said.

We got in the car. I finshed the book hlaf way there. "Train, there's a quiz in the back, ask me the questions." I said handing him the book. "Okay." he said taking the book. "Let's see, how many cards can you have in a deck?' "40 or more, but best to have 40." I said. "Right." he said. Soon we went throught all the questions."She's ready for a written test, but what about a real duel?" he asked. "I'm ready." I said.

*With someone else*

I was watching the second exam for the first years. It seemed so cool. Soon a girl walked in and she had really long hair. She wore a black dress with a sviler cross on it. I was a sceond year. "Train, this is going to be fun." the girl said. "Nikki, are you sure you don't want to see your mother first?" the oldest man asked. "Why, this will be fun." she said. She must have been kidnapped and these guys knew her mom. Then I notcied that there was a spirit next to her. It looked like a grim reaper. The girl even had a douple bladed scythe on her back.

"Here, I'll put your name on the list." the younger man said. Soon he was gone. "Jaden Yuki that girl's here to take a written test too." Dr. Crowler yelled. "Okay, I'll give her the test." I said. I picked up a packet from a stack of them, adn a pencile. "Here's the written test.' I said. She took it. "Thanks she said. I noticed she had purple eyes,, they held hurt and sadness in them, and looked like she had been crying.

She sat down and the train guy came back. "Are you sure you won't need help?" he asked as the girl turned the pages faster then I could finish the page. "Yeah, I'm done." she said handing me the packet. "So now what do I do?' she asked. "You wait for them to call your name." I said. "Thanks." she said. "Oh, My named's Nikki by the way." I said. "Elliots." the older man whispered to her. "Elliots." she said.

I looked at her. At first her face looked blank. "And you're Jaden Yuki of slifer form. I can't wait to duel you some time." she said. Then Corlwer came up behind her. "Are you Nikki Elliots?' he asked. "Yes." she said. "You're dueling him in order to enter our school. If you don't beat or tie him you don't get in." he said. "Okay." she said. "He's our strongest duelest, he never losses." he said. "That's okay." she said. She was so calm and cool.

Soon she was standing in front of me on the dueling aerna and winning the duel. "Let's see, I'm going to put reaper's daughter in the grave,a dn summon her father. Grim Reaper." she said. This duel monster had over 2000 atk points, but only needed one card sent to the grave. I had no monsters on my feild. "Now attack him." Nikki said. The Reaper attacked me, and my life points dropped to zero. "SHE BEAT HIM!" I heard the Train guy and crowler yell. "She only started to day." the old man said.

I walked up to Nikki. "That was a great duel." I said holding out my hand. "Thanks, I just wish Jim could have seen that." she said taking it. I noticed tears in her eyes. Then she turned and ran away. "Wait, you're in slifer dorm." Crowler said. "I'll be on the plane, when it's time to go." she called.


	2. Moving In

Train woke Nikki up the next morning. They had stayed in a hotel for the night, so Nikki would get to the plane on time. She had bought change of clothes the night before, because she was sick of uniforms, and she wasn't going to wear one at Duel Academy. She knew the colors for the ranks, and she didn't care which she got.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Sven asked as Nikki held her bag of things, Reaper on her back.

"Yup, and I'm taking Reaper with me, I still have to get to know him, and plus I need to be ready in case Creed shows up." Nikki said.

"Alright, but what if they don't let you?" Train said sipping from bottled milk.

"I'm a part of Chronos and if they have questions, I'll give them a number to call." she said, her purple eyes dull with barely any emotion.

"We'll have to work on being normal during one of your breaks." Sven said as he put his hat on.

"I'm fine the way I am. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to hurt people." Nikki said as she tied a rope through one of the holes in the blade of Reaper.

She tied it so that she could keep her hands open to carry her bags. She only had three, and could carry them herself. She put her new belt on, it had a card holder for her cards. She didn't mind it since it was black, one of her favorite colors, along with red. She loved her deck even though she's only used it once.

They walked outside, and Nikki heard movement from the ally next the the hotel. She walked over and noticed a young boy, he looked like a younger version of Train. He was beat up, and looked a little thin, but he was pretty cute. She walked over to the young boy, he was about seven years old, and she felt bad that he was left on the streets.

"Young boy, what's your name, how old are you, and who did this to you?" Nikki asked pulling the boy to his feet since he was sitting on the ground.

"I-I don't know." he said quietly.

"Then how about you come with me. You shouldn't be left on the streets, you might get killed." she said.

"WHAT! YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM WITH YOU TO THAT SCHOOL YOUR GOING TO!" Sven yelled stomping one of his feet.

"Yes, I am. He needs a home you two are barely getting by on your own. At least with me, he'll get food, and clothes." Nikki said.

She took the boy shopping for clothes, and got him a white shirt with a hood, a short sleeved, blue, jacket, and black shorts along with shoes. She found a small bell and bought ribbon. It didn't take long for the two older men to realize that Nikki had dressed the boy up like Train, when he had been turned into a kid.

"Since you're taking him in, are you going to name him?" Train asked trying not to burst out laughing.

"Hum, I'm thinking, Rail Elliots. Sven, you said my last name was that right." Nikki said looking at the old man.

"Yes, Elliots is your last name. But how are you going to get him on the plane." Sven said.

"Simple, I'll get him a ticket, since I have one already." she said holding it up.

At the air port, Nikki got the ticket for Rail, by making up a sob story, saying that they don't have any family that can care for Rail, while their mother is sick. They let Rail onto the plane, and she knew she'd have to tell the made up again, once they got to the school. Sven and Train told them good bye, and watched them get on the plane.

Nikki noticed Jaden, the guy she had meet the other day. He waved for her to come over, she looked at him with a strange face, but went over with Rail following her closely. She stood in the aisle, and looked at him, with her emotionless face.

"You're Nikki, right?" he asked.

"Yes." she said.

"Well, are you going to stand there all day?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

"Sit, the plane is going to take off soon," he said, "And who's the kid?"

"Oh," she said sitting down next to him, Rail sitting in the seat next to her, since it was three seats a row, "This is my – huh- younger brother, Rail. Our mother is sick, and we don't have any other family to take care of him. So I'm bring him with to Duel Academy."

"Oh, well, when we get there, I want you to meet my friends." Jaden said.

"Who ever said I wanted to meet them." Nikki replied.

Jaden looked at her strange. She seemed like she didn't want to even make friends, even though that's what dueling was about, making friends and rivals, along with having fun. She took it seriously, like she was trained to be serious about everything.

"I guess you don't have to, it's just that friends are good to have around." he said.

At Duel Academy, Nikki took Rail's hand so she wouldn't loss him. She went to were freshmen went, and went to check what rank she got into. She went up to the deck, where a man that looked like a ugly woman sat. He looked at her, they both remembered each other from the other day.

"Nikki Elliots, I see you brought a weapon to school." he said.

"Is there something wrong with that. I'm sorry if it's apart of my job." Nikki said.

"What job might that be?" he asked.

"I'm a part of Chronos, a organization that own 2/3s of the worlds economy, and is bent on world piece, you cross us, you end up in heaven." she said with an emotionless and serious voice.

"I-I see, well you got Slifer dorm, and will be rooming with the other only girl in that dorm." he said, then noticed Rail next to Nikki, "Who is this? I didn't see him the other day."

"This is my little brother, our mother is sick, and we have no other family that can take care of him. His name is Rail Elliots, and if you have questions, I can give you a number to call, a couple to tell the truth." she said.

"Huh, that's fine, I just don't want trouble from him." he said.

"Alright." Nikki said taking a red uniform and PDA from him.

After she found her way to the dorm, with Rail holding the end of her shirt as he walked behind her. She noticed that he has hardly said anything since she's found him, only that he didn't know who he was. She found he room, and noticed a girl with blond bangs, black and purple hair, the purple outlining the black, with purple eyes.

Next to her was a blue with light blue hair with gray eyes, wearing glasses. And another older looking guy with shaggy black hair and red eyes, he seemed like the person that would hid in the shadows and attack you when you didn't see it coming.

"HI! You must be my room mate, I'm Sugar Baby Moto, but you can call me Sugar. This is Syrus, and the guy over there, is Duke." she said standing up and pointed to each of them.

"Huh, I'm Nikki Elliots, and this is my brother Rail Elliots." Nikki said looking confused.

She had been told, she was only rooming with this Sugar girl, not these two other guys. Rail stepped behind her, and clung to her shirt even more. She turned to him, being careful not to hit him with Reaper. He looked at her, he seemed shy now that she had cleaned him up, but his right cheek was still swollen from when she found him.

"Hi, little guy. How old are you?" Sugar asked bending down to look at Rail.

"Huh, ask Nikki." Rail whispered.

"He's shy, having a hard time adjusting. But he's seven." Nikki said.

"So cute. But where is he going to sleep? The bunks a three person, but Duke's moved in." Sugar said looking around.

"It's alright, I can share the bottom bunk with him, Sugar Baby." Duke said with a slight bow to Rail.

"Nikki, can we go and see more of the school?" Rail asked pulling Nikki's shirt.

"Sure, but let me change first. Then we'll look around." Nikki said looking at the brown haired boy.

She changed into a red dress she had, since she said she would refuse to wear the school's uniform. Rail gave her a small smile, when Jaden knocked on the door. Nikki looked, and Jaden gave her a goofy smile. Nikki placed Reaper on the top bunk since Sugar slept on the middle bunk.

"Wow, Nikki, you settled in quick." Jaden said.

"I have to be able to, if I want to be able to know more about the place." she said heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Any where but here." she said.

Once outside, Rail walked beside Nikki, since he didn't know where else to be, he felt strange being taken in like that. But Nikki seemed to care enough. Sven had warned him that Nikki isn't used to being open to people, so it would take her a while to actually get use to having him around.

Just then a boy with black, spiky hair, dressed in black came and shoved Rail into the railing of the walkaway. Nikki was quick to help him back onto his feet, but his right cheek hurt again, since the guy's elbow hit it.

"Hey, you can't do that to him." Nikki said grabbing the guy by the jacket.

"He should watch where he's going then." the boy said.

"You don't touch the boy, if you do, I'll kill you." Nikki said showing him that her hand, which turned into a blade.

"The Chazz doesn't care if he's threatened by a newbie." the boy said pushing her hand out of his face.

Nikki was now angry, Rail was her new little brother, she wasn't going to let this boy get away with hurting him. She grabbed his arm and flipped him over her shoulder, and he landed in front of Rail, who looked surprised. Her purple eyes were full of rage.

"You will say you're sorry to him, and that you'll never harm him again, or I'll break your spine in two." she said in a dark and cold voice.

"I-I'm s-sorry, kid." he said as Nikki let go of him.

Rail looked at Nikki, as the boy ran away. Nikki got down on one knee and looked at his even more swollen cheek. She now didn't have any emotion in her eyes like she just had. He guessed it had to do with the fact, she didn't open up a lot, and had been hidden from the world most of her life.

"I'm fine." he said with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Nikki said.

"Yes, it's making the vision from my right side a little funny, not blurry but I can see the lump, but I'm fine." he said.

Nikki sighed, "Alright, lets at least get some ice on it, to get the swelling down." she said.

"Alright, you're in charge." he said taking her hand.

Nikki was trying to find the way to the infirmary, when she bumped into a girl in a blue uniform, with long blond hair, and brown eyes. The girl was quick to apologize to Nikki.

"I'm looking for the infirmary, do you know where I can find it?" Nikki said trying not to show emotion.

"Yes, it's this way. Follow me, and I'm Sabrina Moto." the blond said.

"I'm Rail, and Nikki's my older sister. Some guy with black spiky hair elbowed me in the cheek, so we're getting some ice." Rail said with a big grin.

"It's nice to meet you. And did the guy refer to himself as The Chazz?" Sabrina asked.

"He did." Nikki said.

"That's my brother-in-law, Chazz. I'm sorry, he thinks he's better than everyone." Sabrina said.

"It's alright, Nikki taught him a thing or two." Rail said.

Just then Sabrina stopped in front of a door, "This is it. Miss. Fountain should be in." she said.

"Thank you. You were a big help." Rail said with a big smile.

Nikki caught herself smiling at the fact Rail was actually opening up to people. She thanked Sabrina as well, and the door opened, and there was a woman with short red hair, in a pink dress in the blue uniform. She smiled at the sight of them.

"Hello, you must be freshmen, how can I help you." she asked.

"Rail, here, needs a ice pack. Chazz, made his already swollen cheek, worse." Nikki said using her hand to jester to Rail.

"Oh my, what a cute little boy, with those big golden eyes, and the crazy brown hair. Is he your little brother?" Miss. Fountain asked.

"Yes, he got his eye color from a past family, that we never meet. It's just me, him and our sick mother." Nikki said.

"So cute. Well, I'll get that ice, and you can continue on you're little tour of the school." the nurse said.

She went over and got a small bag of ice, and wrapped it in a towel, and placed it on Rail's cheek. Rail smiled at the nurse, and took hold of the ice pack. Nikki couldn't believe that she was caring more and more for Rail by the minute.

Soon it was time for the dorm dinners, but it turned out that Slifer's dorm master went missing the year before, so the only one that could stand in until they got a new one, was the woman that owned the card shop at the school, named Dorothy.

Jaden got her to sit with him, and his friends, Sugar, Syrus, Duke, and Chazz. Both Jaden and Rail, were eating the food like it was the last time they would eat. Nikki could understand Rail, he was living on the streets up til this morning, with little food. Jaden on the other hand, she didn't get it.

"Jaden, slow down, or you'll choke." Sugar and Syrus said.

"I can't help it. I was in a duel already today with a freshmen, and dueling makes me hungry." Jaden said shoving rice into his mouth.

"Miss. Dorothy, may I have some more food?" Rail asked the woman as she walked by the table.

"Sure, anything for someone as cute as you." Miss. Dorothy said taking Rail's plate and bowl.

"Wow, it seems that Rail can hit it off with any woman." Sugar said with some of her grilled fish hanging out of her mouth.

"Sugar Baby, speak without food in your mouth." Duke said in a polite tone.

"Duke, tell me, why are you so polite to Sugar Baby?" Nikki said.

"I've sworn to protect her with my life." he said.

"I see, so you'd kill, as long as Sugar's save." she said.

"K-killing, no. He'll just scare them off." Sugar said swallowing her food.

"I see, I guess he was taught differently." Nikki said before hitting Rail's hand away from her food.

"Ow, how'de you even know, you weren't looking." Rail asked rubbing his hand.

"You're bell. I didn't put on you so you would look more like Train, but so I could hear where you are." she said looking at him, "And don't even think about removing it. I put it on you for your safety."

Dorothy came back with more food for Rail, who thanked her and ate it pretty quick. Nikki sighed when he started to hit his chest since some of the fish got stuck. She got looks from everyone, and then she sighs again.

"That's not what you do." she said slapping his back.

Rail gasped for air, then swallowed the fish. He then burped, and sighed, rubbing his stomach. He seemed like he was ready to go to bed. She could tell because he leaned on her shoulder and his eyes were drooping. She smiled a bit, before pulling the young boy on to her lap. He moved a bit to make himself comfortable, by laying his head on her chest, and resting his arms on his stomach.

"I think it's time for you to get him to bed." Duke said.

"I know, just let me finish my meal first." Nikki said carefully eating her rice.

Once done, she slide her arms around Rail's legs, and his lower back, and welling she stood up, she gave his a quick and gentle bounce that made his head lay on her shoulder rather then fall back. Everyone was a little shocked that she could even carry him, sleeping. But then they didn't know how heavy her weapon was.

"We'll be in later." Sugar said.

Nikki only nodded and carried Rail outside, and walked slowly up the stairs. But just as she got to the top, she noticed a hole at the top of the stairs, she turned a bit, and a couple strands of her long brown hair were cut. She looked up at the roof, but she felt the air move, and was quick to jump as high as she could before a she or Rail got harmed. She could tell Creed was some where near by, she just couldn't tell where.

"Creed, not play games with me." Nikki said loud enough for him to hear.

She heard him chucking from above, she looked up and there he stood on the roof, "Nikki, I will make your power mine." he said.

"Over my dead body." she growled as she placed Rail by the room door, and out of Creed's sight.

"So you think, because I killed one person you loved, I won't kill a new one." he said.

Nikki didn't have the time to get Reaper, and get Rail in the room, before his next attack, so she turned her hair into a blade, that would only move on her command. She left the sword moving, but couldn't tell were it was, since it wasn't in it's other form.

At last second, she barely manged to dodge it. She back flipped onto the side rail, and jumped onto the roof and attacked Creed, but he blocked her attack, so she turned both of her hands into blades, and tried to attack him, with all three. But he could make his chi blade block all three at once.

She gave up and jumped back, getting some space between them, even though it was no use. Nikki bite her lip, she didn't want any one to panic, then she noticed the beach behind the dorm. She ran and jumped, she noticed there was a cliff, but she didn't care, she was trained to do this kind of stuff. She landed on her feet, and Creed followed her.

"Trying to run?" he asked swinging his chi blade.

Nikki managed to dodge, "No, just moving the fight, so no one gets hurt." she said as her hands turned into a shield, and blocked his next swing.

She had a little trouble fighting him, since she didn't even have her weapon, and she was pushing her limit with her powers. She hardly ever used them, and she didn't want to pass out on the beach. Her left hand turned into a sword, and she moved as fast as she could, and managed to hit Creed in the shoulder.

"You win this round, but I'll be back." he said.

Panting, Nikki walked slowly up the steep hill up to the dorm. She noticed Duke, waiting at the top. She looked at him from the corner of her eye. He had his arms crossed, and he didn't look happy.

"You didn't think about putting Rail in bed before going to the beach." he asked.

"I couldn't and leave it at that." she said not stopping to keep talking to him.

Once she reached the door, she noticed that Rail, wasn't by the door, she looked around. Duke walked up behind her, and told her that he had moved Rail inside, and moved her weapon, so she could sleep. She realized he knew that she was fighting. She could barely climb into the bed, so Duke let her sleep in his bed with Rail.


	3. The Attack

One day Nikki and Rail where walking around the school yard, and saw Jaden dueling a Ra Yellow. Sugar, Duke, Syrus, Sabrina, and a bunch of other girls, with purple, and black, most of them were in Obelisk blue, or Ra yellow. With Reaper on her back, Nikki was on her way to go find a place to train, she needed someone to watch Rail.

She walked up to them, Duke and Sugar both noticed her first. Sugar ran up to her and hugged her and said, "You guy's this is Nikki, and her little brother Rail."

The girl with purple spoke up first, "Hello, I'm Rika Gray."

Then a young girl with black hair, "I'm Cassdiy, Sugar's youngest aunt."

Another girl with black hair spoke up, "Keisie Istar, nice to meet you."

"Huh, I was looking for you guys, I need someone to watch Rail for me." Nikki said.

"We'll watch him. Aunt Sabrina called off training for the night." Sugar said pulling Rail into a hug.

"No. Sugar Baby, you have lessons with your grandmother, I'll watch him for you, Nikki." Duke said his hand resting on Rail's messy brown hair.

"Thank you, I have to train. I need to get stronger, if Creed comes back, I might be able to keep Rail safe, I barely could last time." she said looking at Rail, who was now clinging to her arm.

"Who's Creed, we might be able to help you out." Sugar said looking at Nikki.

"A very dangerous man, he was longish silver hair, blue eyes, wears strange clothes, and he uses a sword, called a chi sword, you can't see it until he has it in it's second level." Nikki said as Rail nuzzled her side, since just hearing about Creed scared him.

"I won't let anything happen to Rail, while you are gone." Duke said with a slight bow.

"Nikki, I want to go with you." Rail said.

Nikki frowned, Rail was becoming so attached to her, it worried her, she was like a mother hen and he was her chick that followed her every where. She picked him up, since he didn't weigh as much as Reaper, and handed him to Duke. She knew it was the only way to keep him there. She turned away and ran to the forest. She didn't want to hear Rail's cries for her to come back, she would only after she was done training.

Once far enough away, she took Reaper off her back, and untied the rope that she used to keep it on her back. She hit the button that made it turn into a chain scythe, and she held one and threw the other with only the help of the chain. She frowned when it didn't even break the tree she had aimed for. She pulled the chain, and the blade came back.

Then she heard someone walking behind her, and she threw the blade that way, unsure if it was someone she could trust or not. But some how she missed, she knew someone was there, how could she miss, unless they were sent by Creed. She was quick to pull the blade back, and held it firmly in her hand.

"Who's there!" Nikki called watching every way she could at once, making her purple eyes flick left and right as she looked around.

"What I want to know is who you are, carrying a weapon around." a female voice called.

Then a girl with long blond hair, with wolf ears and tail, came out of tree. Nikki had never seen anything like that, it didn't creep her out, it was just that she didn't know what kind of powers it had. She put Reaper back together and stood better to keep her balance.

"I'm here to learn how to duel, but there's a man after me, I'll have to kill him, if he shows up again." Nikki said.

"Well it's my job to protect this school at your's." the girl said attacking.

Nikki used Reaper's blade to block her punch, then pushed her back and swung the scythe in every way my arms bent. But she dodged everyone but a couple that got her cheek and arm. Then she used some kind of strange magic to attack me back. This ripped my new outfit, making Nikki mad, she paid good money for her clothes so she didn't have to wear the school uniform.

After about an hour or so, the fight ended since it didn't go any where, we were even in power. Nikki laid on the ground with Reaper across her chest, as she panted, she looked at the the other girl. Who was looking at her, panting as well.

"I didn't get your name." Nikki said in between gasps.

"You can call my Arctic." the blond said with a southern drawl.

"Huh, your accent." Nikki said with wide eyes.

"*clears throat* What accent." Arctic asked without it.

Nikki got up, using Reaper to help her up to her feet. She helped Arctic up, and tied the rope back onto Reaper, and placed it on her back. Nikki smiled at the fact she would be able to see Rail again, and then he'd be happy, and he'd hug her, and not let go. Then he'd want to sleep in the same bed as her, since he was getting into that habit.

"Well, I have to go find two people." Nikki said with a slight wave.

"Who are you looking for?" Arctic asked.

"A young boy, he's seven years old, and a teenaged male." Nikki said.

"Oh, I saw them on the beach before I came here. You should check there." she said.

Nikki nodded and ran off to the beach. It took her awhile since she was still tired from the fight with Arctic. But when she got there, Duke was showing Rail how to play catch. She smiled and joined them, only for Rail to tackle hug her, which surprised her a bit.

"Rail, I see you're happy. Do you like Duke or something?" Nikki asked sitting up, with the child still in her lap.

"He's alright, he tells me, that he has a cousin with longer hair than you do. I find that hard to believe." he said.

"Well, I can. It's hard to do, but it's possible to grow your hair out very long. I just happened to have been born with long hair." Nikki said brushing some sand from her hair that was on the ground.

"Yes, the same with my cousin." Duke said sitting next to her.

Rail snuggled into Nikki's lap, as she noticed how late it was getting. Rail must have been getting tired from his day of fun with Duke. But there was still a lot of time before the sun set. She picked Rail, then set him down, and bent down, she started to roll up his shorts some more, and took off his socks and shoes. The young boy looked at her strange, while she knotted her hair to put it in a ponytail, and take her shoes and socks off.

"What are you doing? There are rocks and sharp shells in the sand." Duke said.

"We're going to play in the waves." Nikki said taking Reaper off her back and dropping it onto the sand, and tie the long parts of her dress, so they wouldn't get wet.

"Yay, sounds like fun." Rail said running to the shallow water.

Nikki walked after him, and into the water. Rail was jumping every time a wave came, and sometimes into Nikki's arms, were she was spin around, her long hair behind them. Duke was having fun just watching them play in the water, splashing each other, and dancing in the water. Soon, both of them were completely soaked to the bone. Nikki's long hair had fallen out of it's knot, and gotten wet.

Rail smiled, as Nikki carried him up the steep hill to the dorm. Duke walked right beside her, watching the young boy, wanting to fall asleep. Nikki looked at Duke from the corner of her eye.

"Thank you, Duke. I don't know what I would do, if I couldn't train today." Nikki said.

"It was nothing. He's a lot like Sugar Baby, show them how to do something they didn't know how to do, and they'll keep doing it forever until bored." Duke said.

"Hey! I heard that mister." Sugar yelled jumping on Duke's back and pulling at his cheeks.

"She's like a ninja." Rail said looking at Sugar.

"Not really. I'm a lot better." Nikki said.

"I bet you are." he said resting his head back on her shoulder.

Nikki went to their and changed into dry clothes, a long with Rail, since he would catch a cold more easily then she would. She took a towel and dried his hair so it was at lest barely damp. Then she did the same with her's. She knew it would be dinner soon, since she could smell the food cooking. Sugar came in when they were done, Duke entered, only when Sugar said it was okay. Sugar had a boom box and started to play music. Nikki couldn't help but pick Rail up and dance.

"Ha ha, haa. This is fun." Rail laughed.

Sugar noticed that Nikki seemed to know what she was doing. Everything was with so much grace, and she could change her speed when the song did. It was like she was trained to be able to do that. She didn't know what to make of it. She could only tell that Nikki was either hiding something, or she was like her and her friends.

By the time Nikki was done dancing, it was dinner. Rail was happy, and shoving all the food he could into his mouth. Nikki smiled, but then noticed the food didn't look like the food Dorothy usually made. She looked around and noticed a woman with short light brown hair, with some gray streaks in it.

"Man, who made this. And where is it from?" Jaden and Rail asked shoving all kinds of the meat into their mouth.

Nikki whipped some sauce from Rail's face, before he ate any more. Sugar was looking at the woman strangely, and had a frown on her face. Nikki looked a little puzzled. The woman walked over and gave Sugar a warm and loving smile.

"Sugar Baby, don't you like the food?" the woman asked.

"No, I don't. When will you get the message. I don't want to be what you want me to be." Sugar said, she stood up and left without even touching the food.

Nikki looked at Duke, who was on the other side of Rail. He looked at her, she could tell he knew what was going on. But only messed up Rail's hair, as he kept eating the food, that not even Nikki could name. She couldn't believe that he would eat something that he didn't even know what it was.

"It's from Lovemainea, that's where Sugar Baby's grandmother and her mother are from. But her mother passed away when she was born, so she's next in line to be the queen. This is the finest food from there. Be careful, too much will make you sick." Duke said taking Rail's plate.

"Huh, I was eating that." Rail whined.

"You'll get sick if you eat to much." Duke said.

"I will not, I can eat all kinds of food." Rail said.

"You're body is not a custom to this kind of food. You'll be sitting in the bathroom all night if you eat any more." Duke said his red eyes showing that he was serious.

"But I'm hungry." Rail whined looking from him to Nikki.

"Let him learn, it's good for him to learn a few things the hard way, it's how I learned." Nikki said giving Rail the plate of food again.

"Are you sure about it?" Duke asked.

"Yes, you wouldn't be surprised what I learned from being stubborn. One time, I needed help with getting off a raft in shark infested water, I didn't take the help of another trainee. I learned the hard way, that even if I don't like the person, I should take their word that they would help." she said finishing her food.

Duke didn't understand the story, let alone Nikki. She could carry her huge and heavy weapon with one hand, and yet even he had a problem holding with two hands. She wasn't like a normal human, it was like she was trained to fight things and kill when she was told to. He wanted to know her life story.

"Nikki, can we talk, later?" Duke asked.

"What about Sugar? I thought you were suppose to protect her. You can't do that if you're spending all your time with me or Rail." she said looking at him with her purple eyes.

"She still has Sabrina, plus my cousin hasn't shown up in a long time. I don't think he's going to for a while longer." he said.

"Oh, I see. What do you want to talk about?" she said.

"I'm not afraid to tell you about me, and I do, because your Sugar Baby's friend. But you puzzle me. I don't know anything about you, you're a very different person, from any human I've seen." he said.

"What's that suppose to mean? That I'm a freak?" she said standing up.

Before he could say a thing Nikki marched out of the room, and out of his sight. He felt like an idiot, for saying that. Now Nikki would never speak to him, he knew that just by the way she walked out, and the hurt in her face.

"GOD DAMN IT!" Nikki yelled throwing rocks into the ocean behind the Slifer dorm.

She tried to hide the hurt she felt when Duke had said that, but it showed, and she hated it. She hated being weak, and showing her emotions. She wasn't train for this, she was trained to hide her emotions and get her job done, and she couldn't do that.

"What is my job now? I ran away from Chronos with Sven and Train. I can't go back now. Or can I?" she said to herself.

Then an images of Rail, clinging to her side, and sitting in her lap, sleeping next to her at night, him in the ally way next to that hotel. Tears started to form in her eyes, he was her job now. She knew that she didn't know what to do now that she didn't have Chronos to turn to for time killing things.

Rail was left alone in that ally, and she needed something to keep her mind off of...Jim. Now Duke and Rail were taking up so much of her mind, she hadn't thought of him. He loved her, and before he was killed, she finally told him, only to lose him. She didn't want to lose Rail or Duke or anyone at the school to Creed ever again.

"My, my. What is something like you doing cry?" Creed's voice asked as a blue rose showed up in her blurred vision.

Without even thinking, Nikki turned her hand into a long sword, and it went right through his stomach. She shoved it deeper into him, more tears flowing down her face. She wanted this man dead, he killed someone she cared for, and he might try to kill the newest people in her life. Then with a big yank, she pulled the sword out.

"Nikki!" Arctic's voice called.

The blond pulled Nikki back, as her hand turned back to normal. There were six others behind her, all shocked that her hand turned from a sword back into a hand. Nikki pushed Arctic away and turned back to Creed.

"He killed him, Arctic. He's the man, I need to kill, you can't keep me from killing him. He killed the, first and only person, I cared for. I want this man dead, he's after me, for what you just show me do." Nikki yelled as her hand turned into a blade.

"Nikki, calmed down. I don't know the whole story but you can't just kill him. Not here, not down." Arctic said.

"I have to, or he'll try to hurt Rail, or someone else that I came to care for so far in this damned school." Nikki yelled.

Arctic turned Nikki to face her, but then she noticed Creed, was standing straight up, his clothes still ripped from Nikki slabbing him, but he wasn't bleeding any more, there wasn't even a cut any more. She wasn't sure what to make of it. She knew that wasn't right.

"He's not hurt. But I saw you... I saw you stab him." she said.

"I didn't know what that ability, but I'll kill him. But I'll need your help. I can only turn so many times, and for so long. That's why I tried to use Reaper all the time, that's why I try and carry it around all the time." Nikki said as her other hand turned into a sword.

Arctic only nodded, and told the other girls to help out. Creed pulled out his little hilt of his sword, Nikki watched carefully, as he aimed it for her, but the blade itself went for one of the girls. The shortest one, with icy blue hair and eyes. Nikki pushed her out of the way and blocked the invisible blade.

"Creed, you're dead meat." Nikki said.

"What's up with his sword, there's no blade." the icy blue haired girl asked.

"It's a chi sword, it uses his chi, or something. If we put up a good enough fight, we could get out the level two, we'll be able to see it." she said.

"Alright girls, put up a good one. Don't ever hold back." Arctic said.

"We never do." they said together.

Creed went for Nikki, but Arctic attacked Creed, but his blade still got Nikki's arm. The warm blood ran down Nikki's arm, but she ran at Creed and went to stab him, but there was a sharp pain in her shoulder. She noticed that Arctic's wide eyes, along with the other's were the same.

But Nikki only heard two voices, Duke's and Rail's. Both calling her name at the same time, full of the same amount of surprise and shock as the next. But she couldn't say anything as blood ran out from her mouth. It took her a while to realize what happened, Creed's sword came back around and got her in the shoulder.

Duke sat there watching Rail, Nikki didn't have to tell him, but he watched Rail for her until she came back. Rail's stomach was holding up better then he'd thought it would. The kid was on like his tenth plate, and Jaden had stopped as seven. He couldn't believe what this kid could do with his stomach.

"Duke, I want to go on the beach and play some more ball." Rail said.

"Sure, there's still some light out. I don't think Nikki would mind." Duke said getting up.

"Yay, I like spending time with you, but Nikki's the one person I love the most." Rail said standing up.

"What does that mean?" Duke asked.

"I mean what I said." Rail said.

They went outside, Rail held onto the rim of his coat. Once they got the the path to the beach, they both noticed Nikki and seven other girls fighting a man with longish silver hair, dressed in strange clothes. Duke noticed Nikki's hands were in the shape of blades, like her hands were blade.

Then blood came out of her left shoulder, but he couldn't see what caused it. Rail clung to his side, tears running down his face. Both of them didn't understand what to do.

"NIKKI!" they both yelled, as she fell to her knees.

"Rail, stay here." Duke ordered prying the young boy off him.

"NO! I WANT TO GO WITH YOU!" Rail yelled.

"You can't. That man could kill you. Nikki would kill me if I let that happen." Duke said kneeling in front of him.

"I don't care. That man hurt her, he hurt Nikki." Rail cried trying to whip away tears, only for more to fall down.

"I'm going to check on her now, just stay here. See if you can bring her weapon, bring it." he said.

"Alright, I'll try" Rail said going to the dorm.

Duke got up and ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped down. He landed with ease on his feet, and took off running toward the man, he could only label the man as, the man who hurt Nikki. But a girl with icy blue hair stopped him, he knew this young girl too well.

"Sugar Baby?" Duke asked.

"I didn't think you'd know. But you can't go over there, that man, Creed, he'll kill you." Sugar said.

"I don't care. Nikki need my help, Sugar Baby." he said.

"She's fine, just in shock. She was crying when we found her trying to kill him. Turns out, Creed had killed the one person Nikki cared for. I don't know who, but she was really upset." she said.

"She was just stabbed, or did you not see that." he yelled.

"I did, but she's fine. She only needs to catch her breath. She's running on other things than hate, there's rage and sadness, and even love. I'd know this Duke, you can only feel the hate, but not the rest. I know you, Duke." she said.

"No, I've spent so much time with you, I know why my kind says their people of hate, because if we do find that thing, that's so pure and sweet, we can't stop it. We'd die for that person." he said.

"Duke, you really care for Nikki, even though you barely know her." Sugar said.

"Yes, now out of my way." Duke said.

Sugar knew there was stopping him, she's known Duke for over a year now, and didn't want him to lose something he's finally found, something he really cared for, and he could lose it now. She knew it was one of the first laws of Lovemainea, never get in the way of love.

Duke took off towards Nikki. He didn't want her to die, and he didn't want to see her die. He ran up the man, Creed and blasted him, with all the power he had. Creed slid across the sand. Which shocked everyone there, because they couldn't get the guy to move an inch.

Nikki was sitting on her knees putting as much weight as she could on to the wound. She was losing a lot of blood, she could feel it running down her back. She knew that the nanomachines weren't working because the bleeding wouldn't stop. But then she noticed Duke, standing in front of her, and Creed getting up.

What had she missed when she wasn't looking? Why was Duke there? Wouldn't he be watching Rail for her, since she wasn't there to watch him. But she knew one thing, Creed found an new target, Duke. She knew this because Creed got up, and was running at Duke, with his sword at level two.

"NO, DUKE! THIS ISN'T YOUR FIGHT!" Nikki yelled.

Duke stopped and looked at her, and just then Reaper landed in between Duke and Creed, making Creed stop. It was standing because it's blade was in the sand, and the other was shining in the setting sun's light. Nikki looked at were it had came from, there Rail stood, panting, but standing at the top of cliff.

Nikki stood up, and walked over to Reaper, and pulled it out of the ground and hit the button that made it into a chain scythe. She didn't care any more, about her wound on her shoulder, she had to protect Duke and Rail, that's all that mattered. She threw one end at Creed, cutting his side.

Next she tugged it making it wrap around Creed's arms and chest area, and tugged it hard making the blade cut deep into Creed's back. She wasn't going to let him hurt Rail or Duke, even if it meant she would die from blood lost.

She walked over to Creed, panting and shaking from the blood loss. But she used the chain to pull Creed over to her, when she couldn't make the rest of the walk. She pulled him close and looked up at him and said, "Get out of here, before I do kill you. And if you ever harm any one you see here or on that cliff, then I'll kill you in the most painful and slow way possible." her voice cold and emotionless, as her purple eyes. After that the world to Nikki went dark.


	4. The Recovery

After Nikki had passed out, Sabrina turned back to normal, and so did all the other girls. Creed managed to get out of the mess of chain, that was still around him, and got away. Duke was right by Nikki, taking off his jacket, and tying it around her shoulder to slow the bleeding. Sabrina and Sugar had to fight him, to keep him from picking Nikki up, since it wouldn't help to move her round.

"How are we going to get her the proper help she needs, if I can't take her to Miss. Fountain?" Duke asked, his red eyes full of all kinds emotions that Sabrina has never seen them full of.

"We'll get Dorothy do what she can right now, and then take her." Sabrina said.

"NIKKI!" Rail called running over, after he raced down the cliff's path.

Duke stepped in front of the young boy, so he didn't have to see Nikki, the way she was. Rail's golden eyes were pull of tears, and panic, he just wanted to see her, he didn't care about the blood. He wanted to make sure she's alright.

"Let me see her, let me see Nikki." Rail cried trying to fight Duke.

"No, I don't want to pain you with, what you will see." Duke said Kneeling in front of Rail, for he was still in his line of view.

"I don't care. I want to see her. I want to help her, bring Reaper wasn't enough. Please, I don't don't want the last time I saw Nikki, be one with her mad." the young boy cried.

"SHE'S NOT GOING TO DIE! I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!" Duke yelled.

Rail looked at Duke with wide eyes, he had never heard or seen him mad. He usually was full of patience, kindness, and other soft sided things. He didn't understand why he was yelling now. This only made Rail cry even more. Duke pulled the young boy into a hug, since he didn't mean to yell at him.

After about a half hour, they were able to get Nikki to Miss Fountain. Miss Fountain could only do so much for Nikki, she didn't have any blood to do blood transfusions with, or any thing to use for operation, since a lot of the muscle in Nikki's shoulder was torn very badly. She could only stitch her up, and hope that she'd recover by herself, until they could get a real doctor over to take a look.

Little did they know, that the nanomachines in Nikki's body were already working on the muscle, and the cut skin as well. The blood was up to the body. Miss. Fountain found it hard to say no, to Rail, who wanted to stay with Nikki that night since he was so worried.

No one knew what to do. Most of the gang was confused on what happened. Duke and Rail had to lie and tell them that Nikki fell, and her weapon caused it. Miss. Fountain was going to take it, and lock it away, but Rail told her, that Nikki needed for important things they weren't allowed to say without Nikki's okay.

That night, Sabrina and the other girls took turns watching Rail for Duke, who only wanted to be alone and clear his head. Sabrina and Sugar took the first shift, since it would be a long night, with a young boy, who couldn't sleep. They brought Rail, to Sabrina's dorm room, since there was a TV, for Rail to watch in there.

Even though they both knew Rail was upset, he still wanted to play and do anything to get his mind off of Nikki, for a while. He had Reaper with him, carrying it with one hand, and a part resting on his shoulder, everyone couldn't believe that he, a young, small, boy could carry the heavy weapon with ease.

Nikki at first was in a dark place in her mind, she didn't know where. But then all kinds of images passed quickly before her eyes, she couldn't even make any out. But she could tell the same ones where passing her. They soon started to slow down. She some of them her bangs where different and she was smiling truly happy smiles.

Then one was a surprise to her. Was one with a woman, who looked so much like her, only difference was she older, holding a five year old girl with red eyes, and brown hair. Then there was an older version of Duke, they looked happy.

Nikki wanted to know, what it meant. She leaned forward, only to do a front flip. She was weightless here. She kicked her feet a bit, and touched the image. And she saw what it meant. She and Duke would grow up and have a child, she didn't understand why, but it made her feel warm inside, a feeling she'd never truly felt.

Then there was a bright light behind her. It wasn't to the other side, it was to wake up. She slowly turned toward it, her long hair falling into her face. She couldn't tell up right, from upside down. She didn't know if she was ready to face the world, after Duke and Rail saw her using her nanomachines, and they might think she's a freak now for sure.

Then she noticed her right hand was becoming warm, like someone was holding it. She gave a shy smile, and then started to the light. She wanted to know who was holding her hand, and plus, she had to take care of Rail, even if he found her a freak. She still had a lot to do in her life, she couldn't stay asleep forever.

Duke was sitting next to Nikki's bedside, waiting for her to wake up. It's now class time, but Duke chose to miss class, he wasn't much for dueling. He was only there so he could protect Sugar Baby, but that didn't matter as much any more. He wanted to protect Nikki from that man, Creed. He hated that he almost lost Nikki.

Just then, there was a grunt from Nikki, as her head turned to the left, as her eyes twitched. Then they flew open, and she sat up, gasping for air, but then let out a groan of pain. She held her shoulder, and her eyes squinting from the pain. Duke stood up and put a hand on her other shoulder, only for her to brush it away.

But then after she got used to the pain, she looked at him. She gave a weak smile, and laid back down. She sighed and looked at the ceiling, then closed her eyes. He could tell she didn't know if she wanted to speak to him or not, as she just laid there, looking at the ceiling. He sat back down, looking at his lap, unsure of what to say.

"Who's taking care of Rail?" Nikki asked looking at her.

"We are." a girl and guy said with black hair, and tan skin said walking in, with Rail in between them.

"Huh, who are you?" she asked looking at them as Rail ran up and climbed on to the bed.

"We're the Hassleberry siblings." they said together.

"I'm Kiara Hassleberry, the younger sister." the girl said.

"And I'm Tyranno Hassleberry, the older brother." the boy said.

"Oh, Nikki's awake. Kiara and Hassleberry are going to make sure you stay in bed until you get better." Sabrina said walking in behind them.

"What, no. I'll be fine. I'll be fine by tomorrow." Nikki said looking at the ceiling.

"What? How?" Rail asked sitting up since he was laying down next to her.

Nikki sighed, she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell them, but had to. If they were going to understand her better, they had to know about the nanomachines in her body. She could move her shoulder, it only hurt because the muscle was still torn from Creed's chi blade.

"I don't really know my mother. I was kidnapped by this organization, called Chronos. They raised me, and plus they trained me to be able to kill, when there was someone throwing the peace of the world. I didn't know that I was taking until I meet, Train Heartnet, and Sven. They came on the day I became a known as number zero, and then Jim became a number too, to keep me away from them.

We were making our way to the back exit, when Creed showed up and tried to fight with me. In the end, Jim was killed, and Train took me with him. They wanted me to meet my mother, Eve, but I wasn't ready to meet her. I wanted to come here first, get use to living a normal live, but Creed keeps showing up.

I found Rail in the ally away next to the hotel I stayed in before getting on the plane, and brought him with me. I don't know how to explain the reasoning behind that, but I can tell you, I've grown to care deeply for Rail.

Now, here's what I need to tell you, the reason why, I'll be better tomorrow. Because of my mother, my body makes these machines, called nanomachines, they allow me to change the shape, and hardness of my body. I read about Eve, when Jenos wanted me to understand my powers.

The nanomachines, they'll fix the torn tissue in my shoulder, and make me back into tip top shape. If I was just a normal person, I probably would never be able to move my arm again." Nikki said.

"Why, I still don't understand that, but it tells us a lot about you." Sabrina said.

"Here, nanomachines are these really small machines that are in my body that allow me to heal faster, and change the shape of my body. That's all I really know." Nikki said propping herself up with her pillow.

"I don't get it, how do you change the shape of your body?" Hassleberry asked.

Nikki lifted her hand, and turned it into a blade, everyone looked shocked, but Sabrina. Nikki looked away as her hand turned back to normal. Sadness and tears filled her eyes, she tried to look away, but Duke turned her back, and whipped away a tear that ran down her cheek.

"I won't mind, if you find me a freak, I'll go back to my old emotionless ways, and not give a damn about a thing. I'll leave and go back to Chronos, they'll want their best number back." she said not looking at Duke.

"No, you can't leave me, Nikki. I still need you, I don't know my real family, your the only family I know." Rail said laying his on her rib cage, and hugged her the best he could manage.

"No, Nikki, I won't let you go. You don't have the eyes of a killer, and I won't let you get them. You're needed here, everyone here needs you. Creed won't leave, and Rail still needs you." Duke said.

"But, I was born from a clone, that was made to be used as a weapon of mass murder, how can you say that. Chronos, they went and trained me to do the same. I'll only going to bring back things to you." Nikki said sitting up quickly, making the tears run down her face even faster.

"So what, that means you can change. You got away from them, now you can be whatever you want to be. You can go on without a care in the world, for all I care. But just don't go back." Duke said raising his voice, making everyone shocked.

Nikki threw he legs over the side of the edge after she moved Rail off of her, and threw off the blanket. She got up and pointed a finger at Duke, shoving into his chest as hard as she could. Her purple eyes were full of some emotion they couldn't read, but her eyes were cold.

"Duke, tell me. Why would you care so much about me? You stepped into my fight, you could have gotten yourself killed." She said raising her voice, in a playful way.

Duke looked at her shocked, but then relaxed into a smile. He couldn't believe that's all she wanted to know. He tried to hold back the laughter, but it came out, and he had to hold his rib cage to stay up. Nikki got mad at the fact he was laughing at her.

"W-what's so funny? I don't see anything funny." Nikki asked as her cheeks started to tint red from embarrassment.

"I'll tell you when the times right. But until then, Nikki, be who you want to be. And try to figure it out yourself." he said calming down.

"What? Huh? Someone tell me." Nikki said, as everyone else smiled.

"It's nothing, but you should get more rest." Sabrina said.

"No, I'm fine." Nikki said as Duke was walking out of the room, "Hey, I'm not done talking to you." she went after Duke.

It took Nikki a bit to catch up to Duke, since he was like seven inches taller then she was. She rushed up to him, and grabbed his arm in a strange manner, she used both of her arms, wrapping them around his arm. Making him stop, and he looked at her as she went on to one knee. He smiled, and helped her up.

In the processes of pulling her up, he pulled her close, and wrapped his arms around her. He couldn't help it, it was something he's been wanting to do since she woke up. He rested his chine on her shoulder, as he held her there. Nikki was too shocked to do anything. She just stood there with wide eyes. She had never been this close to someone, since Jim died, since he died in her arms, basicly.

"Nikki, don't be reckless next time, I could have lost you. You've brought me to the understanding of my people. I never thought I would do something, that I always thought was impossible. Don't leave this place, ever." he said before letting her go.

"W-what do you mean? Understand your people? Are you not human?" she asked looking up at him.

"No, I'm from a completely different world, a world full of hate, and no love. But you brought the warmth of love, thank you." he said.

Nikki didn't understand, was this the reason why he wanted her to be who ever she wanted, or was there something more to it. She didn't know, but all she knew was, it made her want to cry, and her chest tight and warm. She only nodded and smiled, even though she didn't understand what he meant.

"Nikki!" Rail called, running into her.

"Rail, did you get enough sleep last night?" Nikki asked looking down at the young boy.

"Not really, I couldn't sleep since I was so worried about you." he said.

She picked him up, "Then let's go and take a nap. You look like you need one." she said.

While Rail and Nikki slept, Duke sat by the bed side. He knew what the other girls were doing. They were looking for Creed. But they didn't know where to find him. For all they knew, he had a hide out on another near by island, or back on the main land. Duke wasn't sure about anything, only that he had to keep Nikki and Rail safe now.

Rail mumbled in his sleep as he rolled onto his side and nuzzled closer to Nikki. Duke couldn't help but notice how Nikki's hair was almost as long as she was. How does anyone grow their hair that long? But then he remembered his cousin was born to have very long hair, but Nikki, was basicly a human. He couldn't help but brush some of her bangs out of her face.

Sabrina, and the other girls had split up and searched the whole island. The only place that hadn't been looked at was the abandoned dorm. Both Alexis and Sabrina meet in front of it, both seemed a little uneasy about it, but they had to find Creed.

"Well, this has to be the last place to look." Alexis said.

"I know, let's hope we find something." Sabrina said with a nod.

They both stepped in, and they felt a gust of wind, and some old glasses fell to the ground. Both girls covered their faces so they could see. Once the wind died down they heard yelling, but they couldn't make out the voices. They looked at each other and nodded.

They followed the sound of the voices to the dinning room, there was a group of people, Creed, was ahead of them. They noticed a man in his 30s standing up and looking angry. He had greenish-blue hair from what they could tell in the dark. They couldn't see his face, but he seemed upset about something.

"Now, now Leon. Let's not get hasty." Creed said.

"And why not! You're after my daughter, you sick bastard!" the man named Leon yelled hitting his fist on the table.

"Oh, come on Leon, this might be a good thing. You'll finally get to meet your daughter." a girl in her later 30's early 40's said.

"How can you say that? Kyoko, you don't know what it feels like." Leon said.

Both Sabrina and Alexis looked at each other, and stepped away as quickly and quietly has they could. They went into a hallway. They made sure no one noticed them, and started to speak in low voices.

"That's not a good sign if Nikki's father's on the team." Sabrina said.

"I don't think he wants to do whatever it is they're going to do with Nikki." Alexis said.

"What ever do you mean?" they heard Creed's voice asked.

They turned, to see Creed standing behind them, he was holding a strange needle in his hand. Both girls stood up taller, and where ready to fight back. But Creed didn't attack. He seemed to only want to toy with them. But they weren't sure.

"What's in that needle?" Sabrina asked.

"Oh in this?" he asked pointing to the needle, "You see if I put what's in here, into Nikki or even her mother, their nanomachines take over, they can't control them, and they become killing machines. It's one of the few draw backs to having nanomachines."

"You monster. Nikki only wants a normal life. You have her father in there, and he doesn't even like this plan." Alexis said.

"That's alright, it's not like he's ever going to be able to hold his own child. She'll have to be kept under lock and key once we're done here." he said.

Both girls didn't know what to do. They knew they had to get back to the school, for all they knew, Nikki's guard could be down. Plus she was still wounded from when Creed's sword got her in the shoulder. Just then Sabrina used her powers to make the dust cloud, which they used to get away.

They went straight to the school, and went to the nurses office to find Duke was at Nikki's bedside, and Rail was fast sleep next to Nikki, both looking very peaceful. Duke looked at them, his eyes a little wide since they basicly slammed the door open.

"What's wrong?" Duke asked standing up.

"Creed's a very open guy, he told us his plan, we just don't know when he'll strike." Sabrina said.

"What?" Duke said.

"He want's to make Nikki into a killing machine, and if he does it on the island, she'll kill everyone on the island, no matter what." Alexis said.

"I won't let him get near her, to do that." Duke said looking at Nikki.

"Duke, what's going on? We thought you weren't the type to be protective over anyone but Sugar." Sabrina said.

"I know why my kind where never allowed to fall in love, because they'll go out of their way for that thing." he said.

"Duke, are you saying that you-" Sabrina started, but stopped because Nikki and Rail started to sir from their sleep.

"What's going on?" Nikki asked trying to straighten Rail's messier hair.

"It's nothing you need to worry about right now. You still need to rest." Duke said smoothing down some hair that stuck on the side of her head.

"What aren't you telling me? I want to know." Nikki said looking up at him.

"I'll tell you later, first get some more rest." he said.

"NO! There's something going on, and I want to know." she said almost yelling.

Duke's bangs covered his red eyes, he didn't want Nikki to worry so much about what Creed wants to do to her. He didn't know what it would do to her. But her determined eyes made him give him, even Rail wanted to know. He wanted to be able to tell her everything, but he didn't know everything.

"Creed, he wants to turn you into the killing machine. He has this needle full of this stuff that's going to make your nanomachines go haywire." Sabrina said looking away.

"He...what?" Nikki asked with a worried look in her eyes.

Nikki was in shock, she never knew it was possible for anyone to get their hands on whatever it was, she knew Chronos had the only needle, unless there was another they didn't know about. Her hand flew onto her chest as she tugged at her shirt, was her breathing started to speed up, she was panicking, something she was taught never to do.

"I have to hunt him down. I have to get ride of that needle." she said getting out of the bed.

"Nikki, don't be rash, you're still healing." Sabrina and Alexis said as the other girls joined them.

"No, only I can do this. I'll kill him while I'm at it." Nikki said.

Everyone wasn't sure what was going on since they didn't hear the first half of what they were talking about. Sabrina was trying to get Nikki to stay in bed, but Nikki's eyes they filled with an emotion they had never even seen, or maybe there was no emotion in them at all. Duke seemed the most upset out of everyone there.

Then out of no where, there was a huge noise, and everyone was looking at Duke. He had slammed his fist into the wall, and he looked angry, he looked at Nikki and said, "Nikki, stay in bed, let Sabrina and the other mews take care of it!" He said in a loud voice, everyone was shocked from this, even Nikki.


	5. What is love

Duke looked at the sleeping Nikki, it's been a couple days since she left the nurses office, but missed class due to pain that her shoulder gave her, as she put it. He didn't know what she did, she was sleeping, so she was probably up most of the night before because of the pain she had.

Rail was sitting at one of the desks playing a hand held game player Dorothy gave him, since he had nothing to do during the day when Nikki or he wasn't there. He seemed to hid something, and yet be like a complete child. Duke didn't take the time to figure the child out.

"Don't worry, no one's going to hurt you ever again, not over my dead body." he said.

The next day, Nikki was back in class, but everyone was gathered in the main room and watching a duel between a boy with silver hair, and another one with greenish hair. Nikki noticed that Sabrina wasn't there at all, she looked around twice as she held Rail's hand.

"Duke, where's Sabrina?" Nikki asked the dark haired boy standing next to her.

Sugar walked up to them and smiled, "Aunt Sabrina's at the duel, watching Uncle Zane duel." she said.

"Uncle Zane? Are they related?" Nikki asked.

"No. Aunt Sabrina loves Uncle Zane with all of her heart. I know they're meant to be." Sugar said placing her hands over her heart.

"Love? I don't know what that is." Nikki said looking a little confused.

"How can't you? Where you raised? On an island all by yourself?" Sugar asked.

"No, you know I was taken by Chronos when I was young, I wasn't shown love, only how to not depend on people other then my co-workers." Nikki said.

"Calm down, it was a joke. But love is a very powerful thing. It's that tightness in your chest when you're with that only person that you care the most for. It's those butterflies that are in your stomach when you're alone with that person, it's the reason you blush when they say something sweet to you." Sugar said.

Sabrina sat in the stands of the arena, watching Zane duel this Aster Phoenix kid, he looked like a little kid. Zane was putting up a fight, but that didn't seem enough. That Aster kid was one tough kid, it was like he knew he was going to win.

Sabrina tried helping by transforming into Cyber twin dragon, that way she could help Zane out more, but that didn't even help. She was running out of ideas, and Zane was running out of life points. She didn't know what to do though.

Zane had lost the duel, so they were walking through the park, Sabrina trying to comfort him. He seemed upset, but she stopped him, still holding his hand and looked up at him a small smile formed on her lips.

"You don't have to worry about what other people think of you, because to me, you'll always be number one." she said with her southern drawl.

Zane pulled the blonde close and started to kiss her, only to stop when there was a flash from a camera. There stood a man with a camera, he was a part of the press. This made them both mad and shocked. But he ran before they could take the camera, Sabrina knew they'd put lies in the magazine.

Back at the academy, Nikki, Rail, and their other friends were in the chancellor's office, and with him, was a woman with long blonde hair, a man with spiky brown hair and a man with graying hair. Nikki knew the two men, but not the woman, even though they shared the same face, and eyes.

"Nikki, before Sabrina left to go see Zane duel, she asked me, to have your mother, and her friends come to the school for some reason. They seemed to know why they were needed here." Sheppheard said.

"Nikki, this is your mom, Eve." Sven said putting a hand on the blond woman's shoulder.

"Is that really her?" Eve asked she voice was the calm and soft type.

"She has your eyes, and we already know that she has the same thing you have." he said.

Nikki noticed Train looking at her, she turned her head to the side a bit trying to figure out what he was staring at. He held his chine and turned his head in odd angles.

"Nikki, why does that thing look like it's suppose to be on your right arm, and not your left?" he asked.

Nikki flinched and grabbed her arm, "I just felt like wearing it that way. I have to make sure my arm get's back to a 100% before I can train again, and I have to make sure it stays in shape." she said.

"Alright, then let's see you lift your arm then." he said with a cocky grin on his face.

Nikki's cheeks turned bright red, since she was holding her breath. Then she let it all out, but didn't look at anyone. She didn't want them to know about her arm, Rail didn't even know, she didn't even know what to do.

"Well Nikki, what are you waiting for?" Duke asked.

"I can't." Nikki said.

"What? Why not?" Jaden asked.

Nikki tried not to look at any one, but she couldn't help it, they all had worried faces, and looked shocked about what she said. She felt her eyes fill with tears, she felt bad for trying to hid from them, but she didn't know how to tell them.

"Nikki, what's wrong, why can't you lift your arm?" Rika asked.

"Does it still hurt?" Keisie asked.

"Is something wrong?" Cassidy asked.

The tears finally fell, Nikki just couldn't fight it, her hold body but her left arm started to tremble. She fell to her knees. Duke and Rail were right next to her, everyone was shocked to see Nikki on her knees with tears in her eyes.

"M-my arm can't move. C-Creed did more damage than I thought. It's completely healed, but there must have been some nerve damage." Nikki sobbed as she removed the duel disk the best she could.

Everyone looked even more shocked when they heard that. Duke couldn't help but grabbed her arm, only to learn that it was limp, it was giving a slight shake, but only because Nikki was still shaking. He placed it back at her side, being gentle. He seemed upset, but knew Nikki hated to show weakness.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you earlier, but I thought it would only take only a couple more days to heal, but it didn't." Nikki said.

"There's nothing to be sorry about." Sugar said hugging Nikki.

"Your nanomachines are working hard right now, don't push yourself." Eve said kneeing in front of Nikki.

"What do you mean?" Nikki asked looking at her mother.

"They have to work hard to get those nerves up and working again, it should start to work again in a couple more weeks." Eve said.

"Rail, I have something for you." Sven said holding out a smaller version of Train's gun, Hades.

"What, is giving him a gun a good idea?" Sugar asked.

"Someone has to protect Nikki." Train said holding out his Hades.

In a clearing in the woods, Train had Jaden drink a whole cans of sodas, that they could shoot at. He looked green after that. First Train showed him how to work the gun's safety, and how to reload the gun. Rail seemed good at it, as he locked his elbows and made sure he had his feet shoulder width apart.

"Okay, aim for the middle of the can, and if you can try and shoot there twice." Train said.

Rail shoot the gun, then fired again ten seconds after the first. Sugar ran up, and looked at the can. She looked puzzled, as she jiggled it. It had two shells in it, but one hole. Train walked over, and his jaw dropped a bit when he realized that Rail could shoot in the same place. Only people with really good sight like him could do that, and yet here's Rail, a seven year old boy, doing it.

"Train, what's wrong?" Nikki asked walking over.

"He got both, into the same spot." Train said showing her.

Nikki took the can and looked it over, there were two shells, and one hole. He was right, but she didn't get how Rail could have get eye sight. She thought it might be possible that Rail is a clone of Train, but that couldn't be right. She had heard that only person that did the first cloning, now refuses to do it, because of what they turned the clone into, a bio-weapon.

"Rail, I want you to shoot this can, I want you to shoot right here, the opening that you drink from, while I'm holding it. I'll turn my skin to steel, but you have to be quick, I won't be able to hold it for long." Nikki said pointing the opening tab on the can.

"I might hurt you!" Rail yelled.

"I'll be fine, just do it!" she said.

Rail took the stance again, and shot the gun, he made it right into the hole. Of course it went through the bottom and hit Nikki, but she didn't flinch. She had turned her skin to steel at the right moment.

"Wait, where's Sabrina?" Rika and Keisie asked looking around.

"You're right. We'll have to split up and look for her." Alexis said.

"We'll split into teams of two, that way we cover more of the island." Eve said.

"Yes, it makes sense. Rail, you can come with me." Nikki said.

"Of course, I won't go with anyone else but Duke." Rail said with a big smile.

They all split up. They all were using their PDA's to keep in touch. Rika and Alexis had found Sabrina by the docks. So everyone was meeting there. Sabrina seemed upset for real. They didn't get why. Sugar seemed upset to see her aunt upset.

"Aunt Sabrina, what's wrong?" Sugar asked.

"It's nothing, Sugar. I'm just tired, that's all." Sabrina said getting up.

"No, there's more than that. Sabrina, tell us what happened." Nikki said seeing through the lie.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now." she said.

They all watched as the blonde walked away. They all seemed shocked that she didn't want to tell them what was wrong. Nikki frowned as Rail hugged her arm. He looked like he was about to cry, so she knelt down and patted him on the head, then hugged him.

"S-she's so upset. I-I don't want to see her like that!" he cried as his tears finally fell.

Nikki only hugged the boy the best she could with one arm. He settled down, and Duke picked him up. Poor Rail had used the last of his energy crying his eyes out. He fell a sleep on the walk back to the Slifer dorm. Nikki was a little worried as she watched Duke put him to bed.

"Something wrong, Nikki?" Duke asked looking at her as she held her left arm.

"No, just thinking, that's all." she said not looking at him.

"Are you sure. Where I'm from, you'll have nightmares for lying." he said leaning on the desk next to her.

"I'm fine, really." she said with a smile.

"I don't believe you. Does it have to do with your arm?" he asked looking at her arm.

"No, I just happen to be holding it." she said.

"I think it has to do with Sabrina." he said.

"It's not, really. I'm just having random thoughts that's all. Duke, you don't have to worry about me." she said.

"It is. I've made it my job to worry about you and Rail, you two are the first on my list of who to worry about." he said.

* * *

Sorry if it's bad, I hope to do better in the next part.


	6. Meeting Daddy

The next day Nikki went to the blue dorm looking for Sabrina. She went to Sabrina's balcony, and jumped up with no trouble, but had to do a flip to keep her balance. She knocked on Sabrina's door, until the blonde opened the door.

"What is it, Nikki?" Sabrina asked.

"I want to know why you were so upset the other day. And I keep seeing these magazines saying that you and Zane broke up, which I don't believe after Sugar, told me you loved him with all of your heart." Nikki said.

"I hate the press, they lie about everything just make some money." The blonde said.

"I can get rid of the magazines. But first I need help." Nikki said.

"Help with what?" Sabrina asked looking at the velvet eyed girl.

"I want to know what love is, Sugar isn't the best person to ask." She said.

Sabrina pulled Nikki inside, and they sat down on the couch. Nikki still couldn't move her left arm, but she could place it in her lap when she moved it with her right hand. She wore a red dress instead of the school uniform, kinda like how Duke wore a dark red trench coat over a black shirt and pants. Sabrina liked how her new young friend could speak her mind.

"Love? Is that what you wanted to know about?" Sabrina asked.

"Yes, it confuses me. I've never heard of it before." Nikki said.

"Huh, I guess it's that feeling that you can only feel for one person, the person who means the most to you. The people you want to keep safe and never let harm touch them. But how you are with Rail, it's not the same, you only care for him like a little brother, and you act like he's your little brother." Sabrina said.

"What about the other guys?" Nikki asked.

"You seem distant to almost everyone else but us girls and Duke. You do care, but you don't seem to like how the guys act, since they don't act like their age." Sabrina said.

"I see, I wouldn't notice these things about myself." She said.

"It's okay, but you are different with Duke, but it might be because he acts older than what he really is, but Sugar told me it's because he was training to be solider before he left his home." Sabrina said.

"Why would he leave his home? A home is a home, a safe place you can go to your family." Nikki said.

"Not for Duke, this school is the closest thing he's got to a home, and we are the closest thing he's got to a family. Maybe you should talk to him about, and think about what I told you." Sabrina said.

"I will, I'll see you later. Oh, and don't listen to those press people." Nikki said before jumping off the baloney.

Nikki ran to the tennis courts, to look for Duke. He was with Rail showing him how to play tennis. Train and Sven were watching. Eve held a book in her hand reading it. Nikki walked over to Duke, catching the ball Rail had hit, which almost hit her.

"Nikki, is something wrong?" Duke asked, since she was patting from her run.

"No, but let's go for a walk. You and me." She said.

"Are you sure?" he asked looking from her to Rail.

"Rail has Train and Sven to watch him." She said.

"Alright." He said.

Duke and Nikki walked in the forest of the woods, where no one would find them, or at least interrupt them. Nikki was walking ahead of Duke, with her right hand holding her left from behind, her long hair flowing behind her. Duke only waited until she spoke first.

"Sabrina told me, that Sugar told her, that you use to train to be a solider before you left your home." Nikki said turning on her toe like a dancer would. Only to lose her balance, but Duke caught her before she could fall.

"I did, why is that important?" he asked.

"Well, it just says we have trained in some way in our lives. I trained to become a number of chronos. And you were training to be a soldier, I say that means we have something in common." She said.

"I guess it does." He said watching her turn and walk again.

"Today, I went to talk to Sabrina, but you probably already know that. I had to ask her about love, since I don't really know what it is. I've never been shown it, only once and for five minutes, and then he died. I'll get Creed gone so he can't hurt anyone else I care about." She said looking at the tree tops as the wind blew.

"Creed is a bad man, he doesn't have the right to be in this world." He said.

"I know. But then again, I was taken forcibly from my mom and dad by Chronos, but are they bad people for wanting to keep world peace, and not wanting the second bio-weapon to get into the wrong hands?" she said.

"I forget you're a bio-weapon, you act like a normal girl to me." Duke said with a smile as Nikki turned to look at him in shock.

"How can you forget, when I can turn my hands into blades or other weapons, or turn my skin to steel, my hair into hands?" she asked she had stopped walking and was half facing him. Her purple eyes wide with disbelief as the wind blew some leaves around them.

"Because, that's normal for you. That's what makes you, you. Creed can try and put a fake in your place but I'll know it's not you. I'll just know that it isn't you. You're that special to me." He said in a slow and low tone.

Nikki let out a slow but happy breath, as her eyes narrowed a little bit, and a small smile formed on her lips. She stepped closer to Duke until she was only a couple steps from him. "I've been thinking about what Sabrina told me about love. But I want to know something, first. You once told me you came from a world of hate, with no love at all, but I brought the warmth of love to you. I was raised without love, but I still don't know the warmth of love." She said looking up at him. "Can you help me feel that warmth?"

Duke only pulled her into a tight embrace, resting his head on top of hers. He only sighed, one of those happy ones. Nikki just put her only working arm around him as she let him hold her. Both of their hearts racing, but at the same beat. Nikki had to sigh as she closed her eyes.

"I will help you. I'm never going to let anything happen to you. You became the center of my world even though it use to be Sugar's." he said as he held at arm's length, so he could look her in the eye.

"Thank you, Duke." She said before falling into his hard chest.

She found comfort and safety here. She didn't want to be anywhere else right now, only here. She wanted the moment to last forever. But the sound of a grown man's footsteps made her pull away as she looked to her left. This did confuse Duke until he saw a man with green hair.

"Who are you? You don't look like any of the workers from the school. And why would you be this far out into the forest?" Duke asked moving Nikki behind him.

"I'm Leon Elliots. I'm husband to Eve, and father to Nikki. But also follower of Creed." The man said, he sounded sad at the end, like he regretted it.

"You're my father! I don't believe that!" Nikki yelled from behind Duke.

"I see, I didn't think you would." He said.

"Tell us, Nikki's birth weight and length." Duke said, only to get a look from Nikki.

"She weighed 6 pounds 5 oz. and she was about 21 inches long. She was a little angel wrapped up in the white blanket. She was six months old when Chronos took her." He said.

"I didn't ask for that much but alright." Duke said.

"And the day they took her, Eve called Train, yelling into the phone for him to save her baby." He said.

Nikki gasped at this. She used to have dreams about a woman yelling that into a phone. She couldn't believe that was a memory from when she was so little. Tears brim her eyes, she had to make sure this guy was for real because Eve had blonde hair and he had green hair, while Nikki had brown hair.

"Then how do I have brown hair?" she asked.

"You got it from my mother, your grandmother. But she's dead, and I have no photos of her." Leon said.

"Are you sure?" Nikki asked.

"Yes. I have no reason to lie to you. I've told you all the truth since we started this conversion." He said.

Then out of nowhere he started to float on thin air, making both of them blink in surprise. Nikki knew this meant a fight. But she couldn't really fight with one arm; her whole left side would be defenseless.

"I'm sorry, but Creed wants me to kill my own daughter. Something I don't want to do." Leon said as a huge gust of wind blew both of them over.

"That's some wind." Duke said getting up.

"I'm surprised you can get up." Leon said.

"I'm not human." Duke said as a bright light covered him for a second. His red coast and black clothes were replaced with a whole new outfit. He now wore a black uniform that made Nikki think of the British guards outfit, with golden buttons, and red trimming and hemming, red cuffs at the end of the sleeves.

"He really isn't from this world." She whispered.

Leon threw a gust of wind that actually cut skin, because both Nikki and Duke got cuts on their faces where the wind touched them. Nikki couldn't believe that Leon had this kind of power. She knew it wasn't something normal, but what made this power, she wanted to know this. But she had to help Duke.

"I guess I have to put that training into use now." Duke sighed as he took a ring off his right hand. His hands gloved with white gloves.

The ring started to glow and turned into a strange staff. It was a dark golden color but on top was a black sun, glass was in the middle, and in the glass was a strange flickering. The flickering looked like a black cloud with thunder inside, but Nikki wasn't sure.

Nikki formed a shield with her right hand and when Leon made a new gust, she jumped in front of Duke, only to learn Leon can change the course of the wind, so it hit them in the side. Nikki fell over since she was so light. But she got right up again and whipped some blood from her cheek.

"Why don't you run? If you run, I won't chase you and don't have to kill you." Leon said.

"I was taught to never run from a fight." Nikki said her hand now a blade.

Duke's staff let off a bolt of lightning, which hit Leon. But it wasn't enough to take him out. He didn't even fall to his knees. Nikki looked at Duke from the corner of her eye. He only seemed to look at Leon, who looked like he really didn't want to be fighting.

Nikki turned her hand back to normal and stepped back. She didn't want to go into the fight if he wasn't going to show his true colors. She looked at Duke and placed her right hand on his staff and gave it a slight push to the ground, saying enough.

"He doesn't want to fight, so I'm not going to fight. Let's go." She said.

She turned and ran away. Duke turned back and chased after her. He didn't understand why she had stopped; did she really believe that he was her father? He just ran after her, and tried to catch up to Nikki, but she seemed to run really fast at the moment.

Nikki came to a stop at the edge of the forest, and leaned on a tree, and kept whipping her face with the back of her hands. He realized she was crying, and just pulled her into a hug, as she calmed down.


End file.
